From “Tiffany’s” to “Khan,” we look at Hollywood’s illustrious tradition of casting white actors in non-white roles
My point is, I’m not the bad guy. I’m just the rich guy. When you look at it through my studio executive lens, you understand how important it is that both white people and non-white people believe that Indians, Asians, Mexicans and Arabs are truly just white people in brown makeup. I don’t like thinking that way. I just don’t have the luxury not to. I’m a businessman. White people spend more money on shit than anyone else. (Except on fast food, which is mostly blacks and Mexicans … at least that’s what I have heard. I’m a vegan.) So hey, non-Caucasians, stop buying tacos and start buying Cadillacs.
[…]
Now, look: I am trying to do the right thing. America has changed and Hollywood should attempt to portray a truer depiction of the ethnic diversity that makes up this country. The fact that many television shows now hire a certain percentage of non-white actors is a step in the right direction, right? I am even prepared to make a deal with you ethnic people out there. Every time you let me cast a non-Caucasian character with a Caucasian actor, I will give you two or three non-white actors in smaller supporting roles. Why not lead roles? Because I’m trying to make a living here. I have spent a lot of time and money throughout history convincing everyone that white is normal. I have even convinced non-white people that white is better, prettier, smarter, stronger, and that only white people can truly be the heroes. Everyone has bought into it, and now you want me to just abandon all my hard work?
Aasif Mandvi’s sarcasm is razor sharp in this. Simply excellent. I mean, obviously look at us ethnic people. Forget we exist. Want someone to play a Pakistani woman’s role? Find a white woman and do the brownface. How creative, god damn!
The slide show is so sad, it’s funny. White people as Chinese people, white people as Arab people, white people as black people (look at Othello, holy what), white people as Indian people, white people as Native Americans with the redface on (yes, it’s in there) and so much more. Hollywood, you’re so original.
Let me talk to you about books.
Specifically, one book. This book.
This book should be a best seller. This book should be required reading for graduating from high school. Before you get that diploma, you read this book.
This book deals with debunking “Neurosexism,” which is a very fancy term for all of that evolutionary psychology bullshit that people spill about those “brain differences” between boys and girls.
This book debunks such myths as:
- Boys are better at math than girls
- Women make crappy lawyers/business CEOs/etc, as their brains are not cut out for aggression.
- Men make crappy counselors/primary school teachers/primary parents/etc, as their brains are not cut out for empathy.
- MEN ARE BUILT FOR GOING OUT AND HUNTING WHILE WOMEN ARE BUILT FOR STAYING HOME AND BABYMAKING IT’S NOT SEXISM IT’S JUST BIOLOGY
- And many other such myths.
Furthermore, this book covers topics such as:
- Neurosexism and gender perceptions in multiple races (as this is not a singularly white experience, just as the western world isn’t a singularly white experience)
- Sex discrimination in the workplace, and how women are (or, more often, are not) allowed to behave
- How science is used (badly) to support many of these claims
- Experiences of trans* people, both through interviews and empirical studies.
AND FINALLY - It is all brilliantly researched, cited, compiled - and it’s easy to read! Cordelia Fine actually manages to be funny while writing this, which I think is important, because it makes all of this information infinitely accessible.
Delusions of Gender has reinforced what Oberlin taught me: The gender binary is stupid and arbitrary, and dangerous. And it is a self-perpetuating bias that needs to be addressed to be overcome.
Right Wing Terrorism
A New Orleans women’s health organization was destroyed last week by an unknown arsonist, becoming the latest target of attacks on women’s health clinics in the south. The organization, Women With A Vision, was likely singled out because it offers AIDS prevention help, HIV testing, and substance abuse assistance to sex workers, transgender women, poor women, and women of color. The clinic also does community outreach and education on those issues. Because of the fire, the clinic lost a good share of its resources.
Plain and simple- this is an example of domestic terrorism. It’s troubling to me that the mainstream media is unwilling to refer to these types of incidences as such. In fact, hardly any news media outlets even covered the story. Now if the arsonist turns out to be Muslim….this story will be plastered on all news channels as international terrorism….but no one suspects that…so you don’t hear about it. There is a long list of places like this clinic that provide services to low income women that have been bombed or set on fire by right wingers…but those are rarely talked about it main stream media as compared to Muslims who does the same. The right wing are the last people to think that terrorism is homegrown. They are all consumed with Islamic terrorism…that the only people that can actually claim the mantle of terrorism are Islamist.
Please stop talking about how “bad”, “wrong”, “dangerous” or “stupid” it is when people self-diagnose, especially in regard to mental illness.
Let’s go over the reasons this is fucked up, problematic and oppressive.
1. Classism. Psychiatric and other types of evaluations are really fucking expensive, and often inaccessible. The last psych eval I had cost me $500. Anything involving neurology? Costs a SHIT TON more. Not to mention, services that are available to the poor are typically of low quality.
2. It dis-empowers people with disabilities by establishing doctors as the ultimate authorities on our own experiences. No matter how well we may know ourselves, a doctor supposedly will know better. Because they are a doctor. (And treating someone as an authority simply because they have the privilege of a formal education is classist and ableist.)
3. The entire psychiatric system is still really oppressive to people with disabilities, who can become institutionalized against their will. A lot of people understandably do not trust doctors or are afraid to pursue treatment. Forcing people to see a doctor to obtain a “real” diagnosis is ignoring this reality.
4. Psychiatry and the medical establishment are also very oppressive towards people who are marginalized in other ways. The fact that trans people can still be diagnosed as mentally ill for being trans is only one example of this. People who are out of status could risk deportation for seeking help. Etc.
5. Doctors often disagree with each other. Doctors misdiagnose and prescribe medication that can aggravate an illness. Doctors frequently make mistakes. Teaching people that their own instincts are wrong if a doctor disagrees with them can be really goddamn dangerous. Like, taking the wrong medication due to misdiagnosis can result in death, okay? Serious shit.
If your problem is with people trivializing illness, then say so. That’s not the same as self-diagnosis, which does not inherently trivialize anything. A lot of people consider self-diagnosis to be liberating, empowering, and extremely important, myself included. Don’t tell us how we are “supposed” to seek treatment, especially when it involves a system that is fundamentally flawed, largely inaccessible, and overwhelmingly oppressive.
THIS SO MUCH! I think people need to realize that minorities and women are STILL the MOST misdiagnosed in the system. I was in therapy last time(four years ago, and now I’m about to start up again for “preventative” measures) for post partum depression and my young, white, male therapist sent me to AA, I was a newly 21 yr old mother who was breastfeeding at the time. I could add so much more but they already said all that needs to be said up there ^. Also, many “issues” can be characterized by many different “illnesses” and can help to cancel out the real problem(s). Which is not good or fucking helpful.
Even when you’re getting help and being “diagnosed” it is still a part of a greatly biased system and you may need to do your own research and go to different sources and doctors and help in order to get the treatment you TRULY need.
#relevant
Always relevant.
^^^^^
important.Food for thought. I have definitely seen both therapists and doctors fuck up in epic ways with diagnoses, care instructions, etc.
and americans are always wondering why they’re fucking sick and tired all the time
Remember back in Obama’s 2008 campaign when it was generally believed that his background in law would render him an effective leader — at the very least — with respect to the rule of law?
It’s hard to imagine that was ever believed in retrospect, as we’ve seen the former “anti-war” state senator not only completely betray various campaign promises, but personally make targeted drone killing a priority.
We saw just a few weeks ago Attorney General Eric Holder’s cavalier dismissal regarding the killing of American citizens overseas, complete with his weightless distinction that, “‘Due process’ and ‘judicial process’ are not one and the same.” In the last few days, however, Obama-era regression is really coming to the surface. ”Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will,” an article that appeared yesterday in the New York Times, could have justifiably also been titled “Secret Kill List Proves Chilling: Where Are Our Principles? What is Our Will?”
Does the president’s explicitly deceitful decision to redefine ‘militant’ as, “all military-age males in a strike zone,” really reflect our values? Is that the America we want to live in? Is that the America we’ve so long considered ‘the land of the free, home of the brave?’
Barack Obama — the candidate who promised to close GitMo — has merely circumvented the process. Instead of detaining anyone, he sentences them to death by drone. A draconian compromise of fundamental American values? Not strong enough — in fact, I’m unable to even construct a sentence that describes just how egregious Obama’s foreign policy has become.
So who are these ‘military-aged males?’ Do we know they’re terrorists? Does Obama consider background checks of each of these Government-sanctioned murders? The New York Times article sheds some light, “Counterterrorism officials insist this approach [the approach that counts all military-aged males in a strike zone as combatants] is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good.”
Are you a ‘militant,’ according to this definition? Can you imagine having a family member killed by a drone — while the government responsible drops an official response of mere proximity? Is that how we determine guilt? Is that how we build democracy and strengthen our international relationships with others — labeling “terrorists” with qualifiers like ‘probably’?
Can you imagine what activists would be saying were it Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfield hand-picking their drone-murders, with a record of killing innocent farmers and children? Where will you draw the line? When will you stand up against the disturbing reality of our bi-partisan, neo-con military intervention, destroying what is quintessentially American — freedom, justice, and liberty for all?
It starts with you. Stand with a candidate who stands with you.
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